Tuesday, September 09, 2008

Jogging on Trips

I took up jogging by necessity. My doctor told me I needed more exercise and when I moved to Amsterdam in '96 there were no real health clubs to be found in the nearby suburb where we lived. The biking paths made excellent jogging paths and so I picked up the sport.

Now I am back in Amsterdam and had a nice run this morning along one of the main canals. The bike paths had more bikes than I remembered but I managed to avoid any major accidents.

I love taking a run when I travel. Most cities are located near water and you can usually find a nice long flat path along rivers or lakes. I've jogged along the Danube in Ulm and Vienna. The most beautiful was along the Pacific in Kaikoura, New Zealand and for the other extreme: Stuttgart. I can't always find a path—Hong Kong has too many hills and docks.

Jogging gives you a chance to see the city, it helps with jet lag, and I feel a bit better after it ends. If only running wasn't so time consuming and so much work.

Chicago is no exception with beautiful paths along Lake Michigan from Hyde Park (home of U. Chicago) up to the North end of the city. Come, run and enjoy.

4 comments:

  1. This is one of my favorite things to do as well. It gives you the lay of the land. At a conference in North England I would invariably run into sheep no matter which direction in which I started to run.

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  2. If the bike paths have a lot of bikes, then why not "When in Rome, do as the Romans do"?

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  3. but important point is to keep doing some exercise.

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  4. If you wish to run in Hong Kong, you can always do so at the Tsim Sha Tsui East Promenade. It's along the harbour, so the view is spectacular.

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